Casting News

Eddie Redmayne Is the Future of Harry Potter’s Universe

The planned Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has a long way to go before it can start matching the incredible star power that defined the original eight-film series. But now they’re off to a great start, with the newest best-actor Oscar winner joining the fold.

Eddie Redmayne, who was the frontrunner to play “magizoologist” Newt Scamander in the potential new franchise, is now in negotiations to lead the film, according to Variety. The hold-up was Redmayne’s perfectly reasonable request to actually see the finished script, written by J.K. Rowling herself, before committing to the role. It’s hard to imagine that Redmayne was worried about the quality—“Yes, you created one of the most beloved fantasy stories of all time, but are you up to my standards?”—but given the ambitious twists some of Rowling’s characters have been handed in the past, he may have just wanted to know what he was really in for before signing on the dotted line.

The film, based on a book that Rowling published in 2001 that also serves as a textbook read by Harry, Hermione, and company in the main Potter series, will be set in New York City around 70 years before Harry’s story begins. Rowling describes it merely as “an extension of the wizarding world,” so while we might learn more about boggarts and hippogriffs, any new stories about Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, or any of Harry’s other elders are unlikely. That is, until the Fantastic Beasts series gets tempted to go all Marvel on us and tie all the stories together. Until then, though, isn’t Eddie Redmayne and some creatures slightly more magical than this dog enough to keep you interested? We thought so.

Is this a Prada ad or a SAGs red-carpet shot?!? (A red-carpet shot.) Redmayne, as we will see throughout this journey, likes to take the standard suit or tux and put a wild spin on it, which we very much appreciate.

Photo: By Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Benedict played things way more straight-down-the-middle at the SAGs. (Though this shot probably still got more than 2 million reblogs on Tumblr, nevertheless.)

Photo: By Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

We’ve got some velvet-y action here! We feel confident at least 50 percent of the actors Eddie met at the Golden Globes, slightly inebriated, asked if they could touch his arm. (“Oh, wow, it’s so soft!” Julia Roberts says, putting down her glass of white wine.)

Photo: By Jeff Vespa/WireImage.

Benedict, come on! This is another . . . basically ordinary tux. You’re making life for a caption-writer tough.

Photo: By Alberto Rodriguez/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank.

Benedict, at the Hollywood Film Awards, at least spiced things up with a vest here. (As we said, we’ll take what we can get, Cumberbatch-ally speaking.)

Photo: By Jason Merritt/Getty Images

This is an excellent Eddie look (from the Toronto Film Festival, in September) to end on. This suit!!! Where to even begin? It’s like no suit you’ve ever seen, and also the only suit you ever want to see again. What would it even feel like to wear this suit? None of us will ever know; we can only dream.

Photo: By Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Benedict Cumberbatch for Warby Parker. J.K. We like the specs, Benedict. And this suit is perhaps our favorite of yours we’ve come across so far. Let’s channel this Toronto spirit in planning your Oscar look.

Photo: By Jeff Vespa/Getty Images.

Is this a Prada ad or a SAGs red-carpet shot?!? (A red-carpet shot.) Redmayne, as we will see throughout this journey, likes to take the standard suit or tux and put a wild spin on it, which we very much appreciate.

By Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Benedict played things way more straight-down-the-middle at the SAGs. (Though this shot probably still got more than 2 million reblogs on Tumblr, nevertheless.)

By Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

We’ve got some velvet-y action here! We feel confident at least 50 percent of the actors Eddie met at the Golden Globes, slightly inebriated, asked if they could touch his arm. (“Oh, wow, it’s so soft!” Julia Roberts says, putting down her glass of white wine.)

By Jeff Vespa/WireImage.

Benedict, come on! This is another . . . basically ordinary tux. You’re making life for a caption-writer tough.

By Alberto Rodriguez/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank.

We’ll be honest, it’s nice to have a non-suit fashion item in the frame, even if it’s not our focus today. Eddie went with some blue-crush velvet at the BAFTAs, coordinating nicely with wife Hannah Bagshawe’s lavender-grey gown.

By Mike Marsland/WireImage.

Benedict, AGAIN with the classic black tux?!? Really? Here, though, at least, at the BAFTAs, we respect the choice as it pairs perfectly with fiancée Sophie Hunter’s sleek black dress.

By Samir Hussein/WireImage.

O.K., get ready. Things are about to get egregiously casual. We’re going to take a look at the garb these guys wore for their late-night show appearances on the promotional trail. This jacket Redmayne wore to Late Night with Seth Meyers is sharp and we may or may not have just tried to figure out where we can buy it online.

By Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.

Benny, even for the late-night show circuit, this is very conservative! Not a single jaunty hat or colored tie? We’d even settle for a colorful sock at this point.

By Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.

We’re back in time now, in November, at the Hollywood Film Awards, with Eddie’s most traditional look we’ve seen yet. But, this makes some sense; he no doubt knew he was going to break out some rollicking looks later on during awards season, so he started on the safer side.

By Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.

Benedict, at the Hollywood Film Awards, at least spiced things up with a vest here. (As we said, we’ll take what we can get, Cumberbatch-ally speaking.)

By Jason Merritt/Getty Images

This is an excellent Eddie look (from the Toronto Film Festival, in September) to end on. This suit!!! Where to even begin? It’s like no suit you’ve ever seen, and also the only suit you ever want to see again. What would it even feel like to wear this suit? None of us will ever know; we can only dream.

By Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Benedict Cumberbatch for Warby Parker. J.K. We like the specs, Benedict. And this suit is perhaps our favorite of yours we’ve come across so far. Let’s channel this Toronto spirit in planning your Oscar look.